Sheet of mechanical sketches without legend: sphere, spring and pivot

In this document

Page 35 contains no text or legend: it is solely a sheet of pencil sketches, drawn rapidly p. 35.

A spherical shape on legs

On the left of the sheet, one can distinguish a shape evoking a reservoir or a sphere with a vertical neck, resting on two legs. Below this shape appears a small circle connected to a horizontal line, accompanied by an arrow pointing to the right and a "+" sign p. 35.

A spring and pivot mechanism

In the center-right of the page, a second sketch shows a spring (drawn in a zigzag) crossed by a horizontal line, leading to a triangular or wedge-shaped piece. This is connected to a vertical axis passing through a small circle — likely a pivot or a joint — fixed on a horizontal support held by two vertical uprights p. 35.

A sinuous curved line connects the area of the small circle on the left to this mechanism, crossing the page diagonally p. 35.

A cylindrical part with a helical spring

At the bottom of the page, a final sketch depicts a cylindrical part containing a helical spring (vertical hatching), topped by a flared trapezoidal shape with a wavy edge, and ending in a conical point equipped with a small circle (orifice or screw) p. 35. Superimposed elliptical curved lines surround this mechanism, like construction lines in perspective p. 35.

Context

These unannotated sketches belong to a type of document frequent in engineers' working archives: the formal research sheet, where ideas for mechanisms are put on paper even before naming or dimensioning them precisely.

For Paul Magès, whose work led to the hydropneumatic suspension of Citroën, this type of sketch — associating springs, pivots and spherical shapes evoking a pressure reservoir — recalls the principles that would be developed in his oil and gas regulation systems. This reading remains, however, a perspective external to the document, which itself bears no indication of date or destination.

Archivist's view

Without text or reference, this sheet is difficult to place precisely in the chronology of Magès's research. It nevertheless seems to belong to an exploratory phase, where forms (sphere with neck, helical spring, articulated pivot) are tested graphically before any technical formalization p. 35.

The spherical shape with a neck recalls, by its silhouette, the reservoirs sketched in other pieces of the same collection, such as the sketch of the oil reservoir: needle, seals and attachment or the dimensioned sketch of the oil level reservoir. The connection remains, however, hypothetical, as no element of the document allows it to be established with certainty.

This sheet well illustrates the tentative and graphic dimension of invention work, upstream of dimensioned diagrams and workshop forms.